Looking forward...

Greetings farm followers! Well we pretty much have made it through sweltering August! Our eight year old triplet granddaughters from NJ left this morning for their trek back home. Momma arrived last night to pick them up. They were here visiting the farm for over 2 weeks. Let me tell you this old gal certainly is feeling her age! Chasing those girls for the last 2 weeks has been a whirlwind to say the least. Most of you know we have a total of twenty grandchildren living here on Earth. They all visit here from time to time but usually only a night or two without their parents but these little ladies were totally dependent on Grandpa and me to take care of them. Praise God He gives grace and strength liberally and He delivered us through the adventure intact. The 31st of this month my husband and I will celebrate 36 years of Covenant Marriage. All praise goes to God since we are sinners and would have given up a long time ago, but God keeps His covenants with His people and He gives grace to us to keep it together. So here we are 36 years and counting… May the love of God abound in our hearts as we serve Him together.

Well finally we were able to pick up our Oberhasli doelings from Virginia. They are sweet little does and I cannot wait till they mature. These are a slower growing breed of goat and from my understanding breeding happens when they are about 2 years old. We also purchased a wethered male and we pick up our future herd sire tomorrow as the Lord allows. So our goat adventure is in the making! Moving up the list for our Corgis so hopefully we will have more to share soon enough. My future milking sheep acquisition is still in limbo. I am on lists and I will patiently await the Lord’s timing in it all. Hopefully our beautiful country is still a country in 2022 as we watch in sheer heartbreak the events enfolding at a rapid pace. God be merciful to us….

My tribute to Carla Bartolucci has exceeded my wildest expectations as to readership. I simply wanted to express to my small group of readers how she was very instrumental in my baking with einkorn. Her family would be proud to know how much she was loved. Her death though sudden and her life cut short the legacy lives on. At least here on Didaskalos Farm Bakeshop.

My baby chicks and ducks have grown into beautiful adults. Lord willing we will have some mature enough hens to add to our menagerie of chickens. We do plan to hatch out a few chicks in the future so be on the look out for that. We have Bielfelders, Lavender Wyandottes and Cream Legbars. The Appleyards are just a comedy group most of the time. Our heritage breed turkeys (Naragansettes and Beltsville Small Whites) are roaming now with the rest of our fowl.

Finally I hope to offer some classes this Fall in our cottage. I will be offering some cookie decorating workshops and holiday baking with einkorn. And of course we will sell some to those desiring these delectable dainties. We bake 100% ORGANICALLY here and we are very picky about colorants when baking as well. Only colorants made from fruits and veggies are used here. Though many times they lack the vibrancy given by chemical colorants they have a beauty all their own. And they DO NOT make your children lose their minds!

Well farm followers feel free to comment or ask any questions. Thank you for reading my blog post. I very much appreciate your time.

Summer Updates!

Greetings to all our farm followers! I trust your Summer is moving along. It is quite hot here in SC right now. Temperatures in the 90’s with killer humidity. Unfortunately it seems I cannot tolerate too much outside time when it is that hot. Sadly the mosquito onslaught in the evening around chore time causes me to make fast work of that as well. It seems I have just the right blood type to make me a favorite of these horrible insects. I do my utmost to avoid synthetic chemicals as deterrents on our land or our bodies so my search continues to find relief. I have tried almost every essential oil combination known to man with little success. They do provide some help but you have to literally submerge yourself in them at varying intervals throughout the day. We are quite diligent to keep tabs on any standing water. So the battle continues.

The response to my short blog post regarding the passing of Carla Bartolucci was overwhelming. It is truly surreal when I think about her being gone. As I look through her cookbook and just think back on what a lovely lady she was I pray for the heartbreak being felt by her family. However, she did leave a legacy and I trust it will be a blessing for years to come. Our einkorn journey continues!

I was chatting with my dear friend Will Metts from Metts Organix today. https://www.mettsorganix.farm/

He is a young organic farmer in Greenwood, SC. He and his wife Holly strive everyday to produce nutrient dense food for the people of Greenwood and beyond. Will has recently opened a storefront in Greenwood called Fenway’s FARMACY @1413A Edgefield St. Greenwood, SC. He will be open Monday - Friday 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM. He will sell his veggies and lots of other organic food items for your culinary delights! Also Fenway’s can now be your one stop shopping for your livestock’s needs as well. New Country Organics Animal Feed will be available. So all you locavores looking to not only eat to your health but advance organic, sustainable food and farming in our neck of the woods please add Fenway’s to your shopping destination. Exciting things to come! Didaskalos Farm will be teaming up with the Metts Family to bring some of our knowledge and einkorn products for purchase in the coming days ahead. Stay tuned for more details to come.

Getting ready to host our daughter’s 10th anniversary celebration here on the farm. We are decking the old farm out to host this celebration and yours truly will be catering all the delicious food for the day. Hannah Danielle Photography will be capturing the event for the happy couple. Hannah can be found at http://hannahdaniellephoto.com/ . Our daughter Amanda (and her notorious Cricket machine) is busy designing a photo booth so lots of cool pictures will certainly be had for all of our enjoyment. Many hands make light work and we certainly are thankful for all the hard work and labor that is being poured into this event.

Finally, Lord willing I will be picking up my Oberhasli goats at the end of the month. Road trip on the horizon! So much to be thankful for and so much to celebrate. We live in the GREATEST Country in the World and we worship the God of ALL who provides these tremendous blessing for us each and every day!

Still have lots of water kefir grains available. They make healthy refreshing drinks especially in the summer heat.

Will end my post for now. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. Come and visit the farm in August, the goats will be here and my schedule will be a lot LIGHTER I hope!

Organic Water Kefir grains for sale

Greetings farm followers! Looks like Summer is soon upon us. Been trying to get enough fluids in as it seems I am always a bit dehydrated. As many of you know we have been fermenting things around here for quite a few years and we keep an ongoing batch of kombucha regularly. So I decided a couple weeks back to also add some water Kefir grains. I ordered some from a great company and they are multiplying like crazy. Water kefir is very refreshing drink. It only takes a few days and you can have a sparkling drink of whatever flavor you choose. So if anybody’s interested I have some organic water Kefir grains grown in our on pure well water. Selling price will be $10 for 2 ounces local pickup. If you would like for us to mail them then postage is on you. I will provide detailed instructions and some recipes for you. You can either respond to this blog post or you can reach out to the farm if you’d like.

A tribute to Carla Bartolucci

Today I felt led to write a blog post in tribute to a woman though I never met personally (only through a few emails) who has deeply impacted my life. Carla Bartolucci co-founder of Jovial foods left this earth on Saturday May 22, 2021. According to their Facebook page her death was the result of a brief illness. She died according to their post surrounded by her family. The pain being felt in the loss is immense I am sure having lost a child in miscarriage, my own mother, father, father-in-law, two sisters not to mention two brother-in-laws in the span of my lifetime. All 61 years of it. Her death will be felt for years to come. Our prayer is the God of all comfort will comfort their hearts.

Einkorn is an ancient grain of wheat, and about 6 years ago or so I discovered this wheat for the first time. Now anyone who has baked with einkorn knows that this is no conventional wheat. I consider myself an experienced baker but einkorn certainly humbled me to novice status for sure. At the time there were limited recipes or even worthwhile cookbooks dedicated to this wheat variety. Shanna & Tim Mallon published their cookbook Einkorn in 2015. I immediately purchased it and began baking my way through. My research continued and I came across Carla’s book Einkorn also published in 2015 so again I ordered it immediately and received a signed copy which is a blessing to this day. Carla and her family have really taught me so much about how great einkorn is and how to make some absolutely fabulous food using this ancient wheat. Today I bake almost exclusively with einkorn, there are rare occassions when einkorn just won’t work but these times are rare indeed. Jovial Foods is my number one source for organic All-purpose Einkorn flour. Throughout the corona virus plague Jovial did their best to get their products to America. Italy was hard hit and their country suffered greatly as did ours. Einkorn AP was in short supply but thank the Lord that American growers of organic einkorn were there to rescue me! I was deeply indebted to their hardwork and products. I bake the majority of time for others. So I had to get creative and from the teaching of Carla and the proper way to handle einkorn I was able to keep making delicious products for my customers.

So I end this post with a heartfelt “thank you” to the Bartolucci family. Your loss is great and we feel it to and we trust that the God of all comfort comforts your hearts deeply and grants grace to continue on. Guilia you will do well following the path your mother walked before you. Do not lose your focus and remember that life is worth it.

Elizabeth

Summer is on the horizon....

Greetings farm followers! Spring has run over me it seems and Summer is just over the horizon. Temperatures are heating up fast here in the Upstate of SC. In the high 80’s today and we are expecting 90’s and above over the next few days. Thankfully we have most of our late Spring/early Summer veggies in now. My husband Farmer Craig was kind enough to build for me three garden boxes before lumber prices went through the roof. I am so thankful for those boxes, less bending for me which is a great help. We used a great deal of our compost that we have made over the last few years. Also gave our Suburban Farmer daughter Ashley enough to fill two large boxes that her husband built her. Her total is now five boxes filled with nice organic veggies. My grandchildren will have lots of fresh produce from their own gardens very soon. Their momma does a great job finding organic produce from places like Misfit Market to make sure they get what they need to grow strong and healthy till they have produce of their own.

We are continuing on with our plans to renovate this old place to receive paying guests in the future. We are gathering supplies so we can tackle many of the jobs ourselves. The more difficult jobs we will hire our neighbors who are professional carpenters, builders and the like. Hopefully soon we will have the supplies bought and ready to be put into use. We have sold Zoe our heifer and are still awaiting the call for our Oberhasli goats and Awassi sheep. We have our names on the waiting lists of the farms who raise these lovely breeds of animals so we are trying to be patient. God’s timing is everything you know.

We were notified by the Breeder of whom we are hoping to purchase two Corgi herding dogs from. We are making our way up the list and Lord willing now we are anywhere from 2-6 months out. Exciting times. We have added three new rare breeds of chickens to the farm. Lavender Wyandottes, Cream Legbars and a German breed called Bielefelders. Lord willing we hope to be able to offer either fertile eggs for hatching or baby chicks from these birds in late Fall. We purchased these chicks from a farm that imports these rare breeds from the Countries of origin. They have been in business for sometime and have an impeccable reputation. The birds are quite expensive but their rarity makes the cost tolerable when we factor in saving these breeds.

My baking clientele seem to be rising in number. Many folks more interested in eating sourdough bread these days. Einkorn makes an exceptional loaf of delicious and crusty bread as well as many other bread products. Our pitas and tortillas are joining the ranks of some of the more popular items as well. However, the most popular item I sell is our Sourdough Sandwich bread. I probably make 20-30 loaves of this bread per month. And considering I am a small Cottage Baker baking from my home kitchen that is pretty exceptional I think. God continues to bless this little endeavor.

Well farm followers thank you for reading my little blog post. Please let us know how you all are fairing in these difficult times. We do thank God for each of you and trust He is your strong tower as well.

Elizabeth